Thursday, March 26, 2015

The Beginning of Everything

What would it look like if you could cut to the heart of the
message of Genesis 1-4, remove extraneous questions, and provide a goldmine of
simple outlines, illustrations, and application for sermons? It would look
something like Alistair Paine’s The First
Chapters of Everything. Many books of this genre run into the extremes of
being either complex technical commentaries on the biblical text or “popular”
books with lightly allegorized application that does not really explain what
the Bible means. Though this book raises some significant theological concerns
for this reviewer, the discerning reader will find much here to profit the
soul.

Paine’s primary contention is that Genesis 1-4 explains our
relation to God in light of creation, sin, and redemption. The practical implications
of these truths, which the author illustrates amply with a gripping style,
explain all of the major issues related to human life on earth, both past and
present. He does so with a brevity and clarity that will make preachers wish
they could take Paine with them as they preach through the rest of the book of
Genesis.

The book, however, contains some serious theological
problems that are surprising coming from Christian Focus Publishing. The first
is that he rejects the continuing obligation of the fourth commandment under
the New Testament, replacing it with a pragmatic view of taking rest without
divine obligation (83-84). This is a surprising shift from the publisher, who
previous promoted the fourth commandment vigorously and would not publish
anything to contrary. Second, Paine questions the length of the days of
creation and treats the question of the length of the days as irrelevant to the
meaning of the text (85). This is another matter that the publisher refused to
publish in the recent past. Third, Paine argues that animal death was not
necessarily a result of the fall and that the Bible does not clearly tell us
the relationship between sin, death, and suffering (151-152). These issues, and
a few others, not only illustrate deficiencies in an otherwise profoundly
helpful work, but possibly a disturbing shift in a once trusted Reformed
publisher.

In spite of such shortcomings, The First Chapters of Everything is profoundly helpful for
preparing sermons. Perhaps this will be true even when it provokes
disagreement. The author exemplifies the goal that all of us should have in
approaching the text of Scripture: to understand what God is teaching us
through the passage and how to apply it to our salvation.